What's on your gardening calender / to-do list for November 2014? (I used to start these type of threads a few years back, no idea why I haven't recently )
To do: Keep an eye out for the first frost, and pick green tomatoes to bring in for ripening. Pick beans and cucumbers and peppers. Mow. Thin turnips and carrots. Pick lettuce. Transplant some native flowers that have spread out of bounds. Plan Thanksgiving dinner!
Absolutely nothing! I did everything last month and my garden is already in it's winter sleep. I don't cut anything down as the dormant foliage makes interesting textures when covered in snow. The clematis vines look pretty on their trellis's and the ones in front of the white shop breaks up all the white. I also think the dead foliage help insulate the plants against frost heaving.
Just watching the weather to see if there's any chance of frost so I'll know when to put the tarp on the "winterhouse". And bring the most tender things indoors. I really need to do some weeding, but just haven't mustered the ambition for it since winter is just around the corner and will kill them off (hopefully). Still need to clean up the blackberry area. (Hmmm... seems I've been planning on doing these things for the last couple of months, huh?)
I put my gardens to bed yesterday. Next is to start raking and mulching leaves. Start holiday baking and Christmas shopping.
Move some plants around. Plant the few I day lilies I got new. And clean up the falling leaves and compost those.
I got the last of the bulbs and perennials planted in a holding bed. The gardens are all cleaned up for winter now, and the Roses are hilled up. It is snowing as we speak. Looks any gardening I do from now on will be restricted to the indoors!
Gardening? there is an arctic cold front moving in... Um not much going on out there for me now. I am finishing up canning the last of what I cleaned out of the garden last week. this week I canned 3 bushels of peppers into pepper relish for a friend ( I don't need them and she had a need for the pepper relish for a rather large lunch she was serving) and I cleaned up about a bushel of tomatoes into stewed tomatoes yesterday and have another bushel to make into salsa and the rest I will give to Kevin's brother. then I am done with the garden produce, I think.... I still need to plant garlic though.
This week I am getting some as of yet not in the ground plants into larger pots and storing them in the little greenhouse in the back room before the freezing temps arrive. Next week I will be out, when I can, pulling up dead annuals and cutting back dormant perennials. We will be laying new soaker hoses around the garden too and adding new mulch so hopefully I will be able to better water during the continuing drought. Actually I am looking forward to my annuals dying off and the perennials going dormant because of the temperatures. They have been dying off the last 3+ months because of the lack of water and the heat so now if they disappear it will be because they are supposed to and there will still be a chance of them coming back in Spring instead of never seeing them again because they shuffled off to plant heaven.
I just realized that I have some Kale, Red Cabbage and Swiss Chard in the garden that have been doing well in the cold weather! I'll be harvesting today
